


// strong so you can be soft //

by HaloKiwi



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Denial of Feelings, Feminine Harry, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Niall just loves food, Soft Harry, Strong Louis, Ziam Mayne - Freeform, larry stylinson - Freeform, protector louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 20:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13279173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaloKiwi/pseuds/HaloKiwi
Summary: Louis has protected Harry his whole life since he was born. It wasn't always easy, it was quite hard actually because Harry is the loveliest person Louis has ever met and there's just so much he's feeling for the younger boy andmuch he doesn't quite understand yet.





	// strong so you can be soft //

Harry is the kindest person he knows, the loveliest. Always full of joy, openness and sincerity, never wanting to hurt anyone. A real angel if you ask Louis. He's also the most beautiful boy Louis has ever seen. He might even call him pretty with all of that precious softness that is him. Louis has nothing but love for the younger boy who's currently sleeping in Louis' bed. He's so fucking fond of him. Sometimes Louis is afraid that it's going to drive him mad some day.

Harry always falls asleep in Louis' bed when sleeping over. First it was weird. Louis was always afraid to wake him up in the middle of the night by making a wrong move. But it's gotten better, less weird, in fact now it's something that Louis really enjoys. Usually he sleeps even better when with Harry but this night he couldn't find any rest as he was watching his best friend sleep calmy only lit by the moonlight that was falling through the open window. He looked so incredibly soft. Louis wanted to kiss his cheeks and eyelashes.

Harry insisted that the soul needed space while sleeping, that the soul wanders off at night to reload energy with flowers and moonlight or something equally romantic and naive. That's why the window was always open. That was one of Harry's "little things" as Louis liked to call them and he loved every single one of them. Maybe that's why he loved Harry as a person so much.

Being close to Harry has always been very special to Louis since he has known Harry which was his whole life minus the two years and a bit more in which Harry wasn't born yet but Louis can't remember them so it has basically been his whole life. Louis always loved cuddling with Harry because it always gave him that feeling of serenity that can't really be described.

Harry is always the little spoon when cuddling even if he is technically too big for it now. He's almost a head taller than Louis. But for Louis he's still the one that needs protection and that he has to take care of. It's always been like that.

~~~

February 1997 - summer 1998  
(Harry: age 3 to 4, Louis: age 5 to 6)

You see Louis has protected Harry since kindergarden when it was Harry's first year there and Louis' last. Louis can't really remember because that's really long ago in his opinion. Lots of things have changed. But apparently he would always share his toys with the younger boy, would get in a fight or two when the other kids were mean to his little Hazza and he would sit next to Harry and hold him in his arms when he was crying bitter tears because of what the others said to him. The other kids were always mean to Harry from the start and Louis couldn't understand why in the beginning because Harry was so gentle. But the other kids were not.

 

~~~

 

Summer 1998 - summer 2000  
(Harry: age 4 to 6, Louis: age 6 to 8)

Then Louis had to leave for primary school and Harry was alone. Sometimes Louis honestly wonders now how Harry got through those two years of kindergarden he had to get through without Louis. Louis thinks about that sometimes but he hates it, because it's so sad, it really is. It makes him always so sad and angry and upset and a whole lot of other negative emotions. Louis wants to cry about it and he's sure Harry wants to cry about it too, but there are so many other things to cry about, way too much.

 

~~~

 

Summer 2000 - summer 2002  
(Harry: age 6 to 8, Louis: age 8 to 10)

It got worse. On Harry's first school day naturally he was very excited and Louis was too because he would be able to spend more time with his best friend every day again. He thought it was a new beginning, that the kids wouldn't be mean like in kindergarden, because they didn't know Harry yet and if they got to know him, they had to love him for all the reasons Louis loved him.

Apparently those reasons were the reasons the other kids hated Harry. No, it wasn't really hate. Lack of understanding you might call it or fear of anything that was slightly different. Because Harry was too pretty, too kind and too soft. Especially the boys didn't like that. The girls were ok most of the times. They would even play with Harry.

Louis was more of a wild kid. He loved to run around, play hide and seek or football. He always had scratches on his knees and dirt under his finger nails. But for Harry he'd play family with Harry and the girls or make flower crowns just with Harry. Louis did a lot for Harry, some people thought it was too much. The boys always asked him why he played with him. They had no intention to be mean, they really didn't understand. They said that Harry was weird and boring and not even a real boy. Louis just shrugged his shoulders because he didn't know what to say. First of all he didn't understand why the boys would think he's boring and second he was really upset. Other people saying mean stuff about Harry hurt so much and Louis was afraid that tears would spill if he opened his mouth. It hurt so much and if it hurt him, how much more did hurt Harry? That made it hurt even more. The pain was almost unbearable.

During this time Louis and Harry would spend most of their afternoons just sitting in one of their rooms, cuddled together to the smallest ball two humans could possibly form. They needed the comfort. Harry was crying a lot. Louis was sometimes crying with him too but he tried to avoid it most the time because he knew it would hurt Harry even more. Louis was supposed to be strong. To be strong so that Harry could be soft.

 

~~~

 

Summer 2002-2004  
(Harry: age 8-10, Louis: age 10-12)

The two years they spend in primary school together were hard but the two years after that were even harder. They were seperated again. Fighting alone again. The worst thing wasn't that the kids got meaner because as they grew they got to know what hurts others most, they learned to recognise the small insecurities and make them big. The worst thing was that Harry started to adjust to it. He tried to get rid of everything soft. He made Louis teach him how to play football. Louis hated it even if football was one of his favourite things ever. He saw how much Harry hated it and how upset he was because he couldn't get it right. He was stumbling and falling all over again and again. But even with tears in his eyes and scratched knees he would insist on going on and on and on until it was way after the time they were supposed to be home. Louis knew that Harry's parents wouldn't be all too upset because they knew that Harry was safe with Louis, but he didn't want to overstrain their kindness. When they got to Harry's home and Louis would hug Harry good bye, Harry would always smile shyly and say quietly "Look, I've gotten better. I'll be as good as you." They both knew that this wouldn't solve anything and that it was just a lie. But they pretended as if they didn't know because it was easy to pretend.

Louis realised then that a part of Harry has probably gone lost forever or that if it's going to come back it'll take a long time. He didn't want Harry to get lost, he wanted to save him and that was when he decided that he had to protect Harry even more.

 

~~~

 

Summer 2004  
(Harry: age 10, Louis: age 12, Zayn, Liam and Niall: age 11)

Fifth grade started ok for Harry. Most mean kids went to another school and Louis and Harry were reunited again, an unstoppable force - even if there were still immovable objects left, but they wanted to believe, they wanted to be strong.

Louis only got in one fight in that first year to protect Harry. After that everybody got the message. You don't mess with Harry or you'll have to fear Louis. It worked somehow even if Harry hated it, he was all against violence even if it was just a threatening vibe that was fluttering through the air whenever a malicious thinking person was close and Louis would look at them with that certain look that made them hurriedly pass by in the hall way.

The thing was Louis broke another kid's nose in that one fight he got into. He almost got expelled from school but somehow the teachers believed him that he was just protecting Harry and all the teachers loved Harry and that was Louis' luck.

The other kids didn't know exactly what happened but there were all kinds of story's going around and that made them afraid.

This is what caused Louis to have only really few friends besides Harry. His only other friends were Liam, Niall and Zayn from 6th grade. On the one hand they seemed to didn't quite understand why so many people avoided Louis (and Harry as a result of them fearing Louis) and on the other hand they hadn't many friends themselves and their mind was a lot like Louis'.

Niall and Liam were in 5th grade like Harry and Zayn was in 6th. Zayn was that kind of weird kid that didn't really talk much to anyone and who was always avoiding people so it surprised Louis even more when Zayn was standing in front of him during break nervously chewing on his lower lip. Harry was away buying a pretzel or something so Louis was alone. "Hey, what's up.", he tried to ask in his most gentle tone to not scare the boy even more. "Uhm. You and Harry. Uhm. That's like so cool that you protect him.", Zayn stuttered finally. "Thanks mate", answered Louis while giving Zayn a reassuring smile. "That's not all I wanted to say. Uhm.", Zayn kept saying, "can I be your friend? " Louis was surprised he hadn't been asked that since kindergarden when it was like appropriate because people hadn't developed their social skills yet really. But they were almost teenagers now. Louis was proud of that. Usually he would have said no because that isn't how friendship works but he knew how hard it must have been for Zayn to talk to him and that there has to be a reason that goes further than just admiration for no reason. "Yes, of course. Harry will be back soon so you can say hi to him."

Harry came back in company of Niall who was begging to get a pretzel from Harry but Harry had already given him one and the one left was for Louis, so that was a no.

"Harry, this is Zayn. He asked if he could be our friend." "Hey Zayn. Nice to meet you. If Louis' okay with you, I'm okay too!" This was how Zayn became their friend.

Niall befriended Harry straight on the first day of school because he was sitting next to Harry and everything was so exciting and he almost literally talked Harry's ears off. They were giggling a lot and then the teacher sent them out and they were giggling in the hall way and talked about food because Niall loved to eat and Harry loved to cook. They were basically made for each other.

Liam became part of their group along with Zayn because it turned out you couldn't get one without the other. It wasn't as clear as with Harry and Louis that there was one that protected and one that was protected but they depended similarly on each other. There were things about each other that they just seemed to need of each other. Louis didn't quite understand their relationship until he did. He caught them kissing behind the gym one day before school and it was clear from then on that they were in love and it should have been clear all along because it was so obvious if you think about it. Thinking back he wasn't surprised at all.

What surprised him was that Zayn and Liam didn't seem to be afraid that he'd tell someone at all. Zayn just said "Oh, now you know. I guess we have to tell the others." Liam was just smiling shyly with slightly blushed cheeks. That's how they were all sitting in Harry's bedroom this afternoon each sipping a glass of lemonade because it was way too hot for early September. That's how Liam and Zayn came out to the rest of the group while Harry was cuddled to Louis despite the heat and Niall was lazily licking on his ice cream. It was just so normal and Louis would have never thought that something this big could just be so normal. That all of his friends were so open minded and warmhearted. It made him really happy and he buried his face in Harry's curly hair that smelled like sun and love and a bit of the familiar shampoo Harry was using. This is how true happiness had to feel like.


End file.
